Abortion.

[Ellemir]

There are so very many sides to this issue, whether you accept or perceive them. Some people might abhor the very word, let alone the reality of a woman/girl going to a clinic for an abortion. Some, on a less passionate end, find that it has a social stigma attached to it. Pro-choice might mean that it is up to the woman to decide, regardless of the circumstance surrounding her pregnancy. It could also mean that women/girls should have the choice to abort pregnancy in instances of rape or financial strife. There's also the pragmatic stance concerning the abolition of abortion: if it were to be done away with, women can and will find other ways of getting themselves abortions. I haven't even touched on all of the political implications or any pertaining to medicine/science or religion.

What do you parents out there have to say about this?
How about those of you who are single - male and female.

What of those who have had abortions and are willing to talk, are you still firm in your stance?

Discuss.  

[DrakeSwordsbane]

There is no end all answer. The only thing I can summon up to answer that is, "Case by case basis" and even then how do you regulate that? Because that's all a law does, is tell everyone how things work. Even then you have to look at the case. Used to be, if you killed a person in self defense you were NOT guilty of murder. After a while they started putting people in for manslaughter on those charges. Now? Who friggin cares, someone died so YOU should suffer no matter WHY they died. Same thing with Abortion. You got knocked up. Doesn't matter why, how, or anything else. If you chose to allow it, you'll have some people upset. You choose abortion, you'll have some people upset.

Grow a pair and choose for yourself, and hopefully you'll have a conscience AND learn from what happened.  

[Alexis Arquette]

As a single woman I am completely Pro-choice. I like to apply the US constitution's right of privacy (I think the 4th amendment, correct me if I'm wrong) meaning that the state has no power to tell me or other women what to do with our bodies. Some people may see abortion as murder but thats their opinion, I don't see how other people's opinions should effect ME.  

[0Brutal-Beauty0]

Pro-choice. I just think we should try to reduce the number of abortions all together by providing birth control everywhere. And real education about sex and pregnancy offered to young people. Sex ed wasn't exactly helpful to me in school, lol!  

[Ellemir]

DrakeSwordsbane

There is no end all answer. The only thing I can summon up to answer that is, "Case by case basis" and even then how do you regulate that? Because that's all a law does, is tell everyone how things work. Even then you have to look at the case. Used to be, if you killed a person in self defense you were NOT guilty of murder. After a while they started putting people in for manslaughter on those charges. Now? Who friggin cares, someone died so YOU should suffer no matter WHY they died. Same thing with Abortion. You got knocked up. Doesn't matter why, how, or anything else. If you chose to allow it, you'll have some people upset. You choose abortion, you'll have some people upset.

Grow a pair and choose for yourself, and hopefully you'll have a conscience AND learn from what happened.

True enough, there might not be an end all answer but dang it if people don't try to have one! Name me a time, though when laws have been executed in a fair way regardless of the social/economical standings of the person in question. Add to that the notion that the previous generation will usually see the next one as being more morally corrupt, lazy, rude, etc. than their own.
I do like what you have to say in that last sentence. Maybe it shows that the blind can't hope to completely guide the blind.

Alexis Arquette

As a single woman I am completely Pro-choice. I like to apply the US constitution's right of privacy (I think the 4th amendment, correct me if I'm wrong) meaning that the state has no power to tell me or other women what to do with our bodies. Some people may see abortion as murder but thats their opinion, I don't see how other people's opinions should effect ME.

Oh, they have enough power to dictate such things. Keep pocketbooks in mind - public facilities can be denied funding if nothing else. This has happened before, with abortion being outlawed. That goes beyond your faith in the Constitution - women would go to unlicensed quacks in alleys to get their babies aborted, which is a very scary thing to me being a young woman and all.

What if that were to happen again?

What about the physical toll it takes on a woman after she's gone through having an abortion - after you have enough of them, you sustain damage to your lady parts.

And, speaking of the constitution, our country was essentially founded on Christianity and its teachings. What about that whole 'Thou shall not kill' commandment? Forget that there was also a commandment about not working on the day of rest... 'Thou shall not kill' was never disavowed. Even if you don't subscribe to Christianity, there is the golden rule to be spoken of in ethical terms. When is it ethically permissible to extinguish another life?

0Brutal-Beauty0

Pro-choice. I just think we should try to reduce the number of abortions all together by providing birth control everywhere. And real education about sex and pregnancy offered to young people. Sex ed wasn't exactly helpful to me in school, lol!

I agree. There's another issue: Sexual Education and how it should be undertaken. There are a few different schools of thought concerning it: teach abstinence and nothing else, talk openly about the biological and physical actions taking place during sex and leave space/time for people to ask questions, and there's handing out condoms. Just because everything is handed to students concerning the biological and physical details of sex, and room is left for general discussion of all things sex, doesn't mean that students will take advantage of the allowance. All parents are not necessarily happy to hear that their son Billy or daughter Sally was given condoms and told about birth control. Permission slips sometimes even need to be signed in order for a student to sit in on sex ed, in whatever capacity it is taught.

For as progressive as some parents/people are, there are equal amounts if not more who are not.


Please note that I am trying to offer different sides to each reply for the purposes of discussion.  

[Shinigami Unity]

Earlier this year, I found myself pregnant because apparently birth control pills don't work for me. I'm a single mom of two kids - and I got very very sick. I had to sleep 16 hours a day to be able to hobble around for 4 hours. I threw up everything and it through my mental problems for a spin.

I went to the doctor right away - because I was having severe pain in my abdomen. He told me I was still healthy - everything was fine. Obviously, it wasn't. How was I supposed to raise my two kids while being so sick?

Long story short - I chose to have an abortion. It was the hardest decision I've ever made - and it was also one of the most painful (both physically and mentally).

I live in a very conservative state. They have to fly in a doctor from another state to perform the abortions. When I entered the clinic, a lady in a long pink trench coat approached me.

Suffice it to say, the two sentences that she said to me sent me into hysterical sobbing for most of that day.

I love my children. I love the baby I chose not to have. I don't think I'm an evil or bad person for making that choice - I just think that the situation I was in really sucked. And you know, most of the women who were in the clinic that day - they were all women who had to make choices based on crappy situations. Not evil demonic people like everyone in this state says.

Besides - if abortion was illegal - people would just drink and take pills to kill their babies. There's lots of ways to miscarry - why not have it done in a way that isn't going to hurt people? Fetal alcohol syndrome is a horrible thing to do to someone.  

[Ellemir]

I wanted to say, thank you for you input Shinigami Unity. Unfortunately I can't reply right now as I need to rush to class.  

[hagelwetter]

I feel with you and I feel sad for you that that lady could not shut up. It's nothing good when people can't hold back with spreading their opinions out into the world at the worst moment possible.

In the way you tell it it sounds right what you did. At least right for you. And thats the thing that matters. No matter what anyone else thinks.  

[Taxi Mama]

God took my 2nd baby ... they called it miscarriage, but the D&C the insurance insisted on is how most abortions are done. How can I be against abortion when God and the insurance company made me have one?

One out of four pregnancies end in miscarriage; obviously life is NOT sacred to God. Why should it be sacred to us? An unwanted baby will be neglected, abused, and turn out badly. Better never to have been born... better yet, never conceived.  

[Mrs_Black_Bear]

okay pro- choice people this is my oppinion

As of right now I bealive that the only time a woman should have an abortion is in the cases of Rape or when the pregnancy is a danger to the mothers or childs life or both.

However though this is my oppinion I do not wish to see the clinics shut down because I would rather have women who choose to have an abortion have it done in a sterile enviroment with those that know how to do it properly and professionally versus a coat hanger which can cause severe problems. I do not wish to see women die because they didnt want the child that had been created through rape or whatever, even though I hate to see a life exterminated before it has a chance to live 3nodding  

[hagelwetter]

Mrs_Black_Bear

As of right now I bealive that the only time a woman should have an abortion is in the cases of Rape or when the pregnancy is a danger to the mothers or childs life or both.

But what to do if your birth control method fails for some reason and you are not able to raise a child for financial reasons or because your child would be disabled and it's raise a too big burden to bear?

Then your child can grow up in a poor environment and experience how bad life is when you don't have money. Or maybe a mommy's life gets fixed fully on raising that one child..
Not that it's impossible but surely also not easy.

But without leaving people a choice also those would be treated unfairly for which birth control failed or doesn't work.  

[kerryness]

I think everyone should be left to make their own decision, and that person will hopefully make the decision that's best for them. The ONLY law I would ever approve or vote for regarding abortion would be so many in a certain amount of time, especially in those states where abortion is free. Abortion should not be used as a main birth control technique. But to go in hand with that, if there was some sort of a cap, if you are about to reach that cap, have a city/county/state assigned counselor discuss other birth control options and find out why you are reaching the cap. Or something like that.  

[Maester_Leoshin]

Wow another one of these.. lol. I'm pro-choice. Not really like it matters though, I'm a guy. I think women should have the right to do whatever they want with the fetus. Accidental pregnancies DO happen, people get raped and whatnot, some women would die if they had the child, etc., etc.  

[Shinigami Unity]

Taxi Mama

God took my 2nd baby ... they called it miscarriage, but the D&C the insurance insisted on is how most abortions are done. How can I be against abortion when God and the insurance company made me have one?

One out of four pregnancies end in miscarriage; obviously life is NOT sacred to God. Why should it be sacred to us? An unwanted baby will be neglected, abused, and turn out badly. Better never to have been born... better yet, never conceived.

Most abortions are performed by D&C - however, it's often a common procedure used when miscarrying. But the difference is - you were having a miscarriage. If you had not had the D&C you would have still lost your baby. The most common reason for miscarriage is genetic error in the first 2 months of pregnancy. In my case - there was no fetus at all (my second pregnancy) - but all of the equipment needed to grow a baby was present.

It still made me very sad, however - fetus or not.  

[Shinigami Unity]

baberlababs

I feel with you and I feel sad for you that that lady could not shut up. It's nothing good when people can't hold back with spreading their opinions out into the world at the worst moment possible.

In the way you tell it it sounds right what you did. At least right for you. And thats the thing that matters. No matter what anyone else thinks.

Lol - but that didn't stop me from feeling like it was the wrong decision. Social stigmata and whatnot. Took me awhile to get it into my head that other people's opinions didn't matter.